Gunther Werks 400R Answers the Question: What If Porsche Built a 993 GT3 RS?

Porsche first offered the 911 in hard-core GT3 RS guise in the first-generation water-cooled model, designated 996. Gunther Werks apparently wondered what a GT3 RS built off the 911 generation immediately before the 996—you know, the 993, the last air-cooled 911—would be like. After seeing their answer, the 400R, we’re thinking there really should have been a 993 GT3 RS.

Gunther Werks had 400R serial number 00 on display at the 2017 SEMA show, noting that it plans to build another 25 for customers. Here’s what those lucky few will get, after either providing a 993 Carrera 2 of their own or paying GW to find one to start with (and paying at least $525,000 for the finished product):

The car is stripped down to its steel body shell and its engine removed. Gunther Werks then squares up the track width front and rear to mitigate what it describes as the 993’s signature understeer, using stock front-suspension mounting locations 1.2 inches outboard of the factory setting used by Porsche race teams. It then crafts new carbon-fiber fenders, primary bodywork, bumpers, hood, rear decklid and spoiler, and roof panel around the wider platform. The doors remain steel, as they incorporate the stock side-impact beams.

Beyond the lightweight bodywork, Gunther Works goes to town on the 911’s air-cooled flat-six and transmission—again inspired by Porsche’s modern-day GT3 RS treatment. Only the crankcase is retained, as the engine gains all-new heads, Mahle pistons, a water-cooled 4.0-liter flat-six’s crankshaft, Camillo rods, and a GT3 oil pump. To cut …